My Bag is almost Finished!!!

At least the crochet part of it....
I'm of the last round of the front and now I just have to sew together the front and back...
Here's the front, you can see my yarn coming out in the middle of the row... sooooo beautiful scales!! the fabric is thick and dense, but not stiff, it just have body and feels great and I definetly LOVE the way it looks... it measures like 10x9in or so.

Here's the back... sorry, it's such a bad picture, and it looks smaller than the front, but that is because the front will have half scale extra on each side... I don't know how to explain it, it'll be clearer when I finish it.

But don't worry about that bad and crapy picture!!!  here's a great one with the close-up of the stitch for the back!!!!

Don't you love that texture???? I think it's called scallop stitch and I found it in the stitches resources at LionBrand page.
And here you can see front and back together....

So I still have to do the sewing, find the right lining and handle!!! I went to Hobby Lobby and I saw several fabrics that I could like for this, but not one handle! today a friend told me that I can find handles at JoAnn Fabrics... I think I'll have to go there... it's on the other side of town, so it'll have to wait till the weekend when MG can go with me...

We are supposed to get a snow storm soon today that will last 2 days...

That's my bag progress... and just really quick before I head to my couch and TV for a bit of hooking before MG comes from work:::

That's the slipper I'm making for one of my best friends... mmm I can't remember if I told you or not...  two weeks ago this friend called me and asked me for a pair of slippers because "the kitchen floor is too cold"... so this is the first one... made in Vanna's Choice... and I have to make the pair for it AND another pair!!! my best friends are twins!!! so I'll make 2 pairs and send them with some treats...

Stay warm!
See you soon!
S.

The Phone Call...

Yesterday was one of those days where MG and myself were both very tired, so we went to bed early.
MG was a bit frustrated of ending up in bed at 10pm on Saturday (we usually don't get there before 12), but there we went and fell asleep pretty soon...

4:30 in the morning and our phone rang... I got up quickly to answer it, not knowing the hour, and my heart was pounding hard and quick as happens when you are waked up suddenly from a deep sleep and also because the phone was ringing in the middle of the night and usually that means something is not right!

So... it was my brother, which was also strange, to tell me that they (mom, dad and him) were in the hospital because my mom had fallen and broken her foot and she needed surgery and they wanted to let me know.
I talked to my mom too and what happened was that they were getting home from a party and she was unloading the car, so she had her hands full when entered the house and she stumbled with something and rotated almost 360° on her foot so it cracked.

She went into surgery and we eventually went back to sleep.

At 8:30am my dad called again to let me know that she was out of surgery, still in the recovery room as she had general anesthesia, and he had talked to the doctor and he said that she had also broken her ligaments and they had to put some screws and metal rings on her! she'll be fine but she can't put weight in her foot for at least 6 weeks and she'll need therapy and rehab...

I'm so glad that we have this phone! It has a local number from Mexico so they can call anytime and just pay for a local call and we can call anytime and it's included in what we pay, so I can talk to them through this... and that makes me feel a bit better, though I feel awful of not being there and with her...

Thanks for reading...

See you soon!
S.

Exhibit Excitement!!!!!

Well hello today!!!!!
I hope you are having a great day and preparing yourselfs for an amazing weekend....

I didn't mention this before, but back in December during the holiday break, I got a message in Ravelry from the owner of the LYS asking me if I'd want to place my crochet things in exhibit in the store during January-February because they are more focused in knitting and she wanted to show some crochet too!

So of course I said YES!!!!!

And during the first week of the year I took a trip to the LYS with a bag and small suitcase with what I thought were my best and more representative crochet pieces....

It took me some time to take pictures of it, so it's until now that I'm posting to share this though my things have been there for a couple of weeks now...

Do you want to see it??
It's all displayed by one of the windows... you can see my small granny square blanket, my cable and knitted-look hats and cable mittens and a gorgeous wool shawl that I have to confess I didn't make, but it is such a great example of crochet that I took it to the store anyways. 

There is a sign with my name!

My "Tree of life" wall hanging in progress and my granny shrug.

MG's Tunisian blanket and a snowflakes garland.

And here is how it looks all together... the pics aren't great... I'm not sure if it was my camera, the light or what, but you can get the idea...

Here the trees from the outside...

 And here how it looks together from the outside...

They even anounced it on their website! You have to scroll down a bit and probably this will only be available while my things are there, but for now you can see it if you want, it has a much better pic of my trees.

I'm SO happy!!!!

See you soon!
S.

ETA::: links to the projects ;o)

Seaman Cap

Hello!!!!
Back in December MG asked me to make him a hat... we searched for patterns and went to buy together the yarn that he choose. He wanted a Seaman Cap and we found this pattern by Beth Hall at Ravelry.
It took me a long time to finish it, I don't know why but my guessing is that the brim was what made me slower in this project. It's all made of slip stitches and they were a bit tight so it cost me a bit to put the hook through.

But finally I finished it, like two weeks ago and until today I remembered to took a picture of it before MG went to work. He had been using it very happy and as he just cut his hair really short it helps to keep him warm because the fabric on the hat is thick and dense, specially the brim.
Here a picture!

I added a round of sc at the end of the brim to make it more even... I think it didn't work great but he doesn't notice those details!!

I love the texture and the closed and thick fabric of this hat, it makes me think that is knitted and it's all crocheted!

Changing subjects::: progress on my scale bag!

I worked yesterday on it and I acheived what you can see in the above picture... today I added like 4 more scales rows while waiting for MG at the dentist office. On that picture it measured 10x7 in, now it's probably 10x9 or so... I'm not sure what size I'll make it, but since I don't have a lot of yarn left in the ball I'm using,  I think I'll just work with it until it's over and then I'd say that's a good size.
I'm totally loving it!!!! it's fun to make, the texture looks and feels great and I am loving more and more the color, which I thought I wouldn't...
Close up!!!

Don't you love it????

I've been peeking into knooking too!!! it's knitting with a hook!

See you soon!
S.

Bag in progress...

I left you yesterday saying that I was going to the LYS...
Well, I went... I knew I wanted to make something with this new Crocodile stitch that I just discovered, and I didn't know what to do with it... the people at the yarn store hadn't heared of it either and the owner liked it very much and she wanted to learn how to do it...

I thought about what to do and discussed it with people at the store and at the end I decided to go for a bag... I like the pattern for a million things!!! scarf, cowl, dress or skirt, a rug, a pillow... endless options... but I liked a lot the idea of a bag... I've been wanting to make a bag for a while now and this stitch will give it a great look, as well as body beacuse the fabric that produces is a bit stiff and dense.
I played with different hook sizes to see if a lacy look will do and I didn't liked it... then I tried with trebles instead of dc and it didn't look bad...

I bought two balls of Cascade 220 superwash... I really love that yarn... the color remind me of wheat...

I think is a nice color for a bag, and it shows the stitch pretty well, while helps it to not get lose.
I started to work in it this morning... and you know, that made me leave aside all the other WiP's that I have at the moment... specially I have to work on The Crochet Club project and I want to finish 2 pairs of slippers for my best friends.... anyway, maybe tomorrow LOL!

I made a 36ch for the foundation row plus 1ch, and worked the first row in sc to give it a firmer edge that will also be useful when assembling the bag. I'm woking with an H/5mm hook.

Have a good day!
See you soon!
S.

Crocodile Stitch

Hello!

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my cake on the last post! I took it to MG's work after I finished my class and he had a meeting with the group at night... he told me that they were all very happy with it and said it was very good. They almost finished it! that is a good sign!
I have the piece with the flowers on top left... it is really good!

Yesterday, when I got home I sat down to catch up on Ravelry for a quite relaxing time... A few days ago, a knitter told me that Ravelry is the Facebook for knitters and crocheters and I liked that description!!

Anyway... I was reading at We Love Lucy group (group inspired by Lucy at Attic24) and saw this projcet shared by Maryfairy... and I LOVED it! I had never seen that stitch before and I started looking for something else about it... I saw the pattern she had used and it came from an etsy shop... I kept looking and found a couple of videos and then, looking in the images feature, I saw this one:::

So pretty, plus I love that color as I'm sure you know already!

And it took me to Jenny's blog:: Yarn Muse (the link is to her Crocodile Stitch post).
She figured out the stitch and posted a couple of videos on how to make it...
I think she explained it very good and that it was easy to follow.
The only thing you need to know to work this stitch is how to chain and make double crochet... you can use any yarn and hook size you want and I really love the way it looks!!!!

I made a sample myself:::

I used Vanna's Choice yarn, leftovers of my first ripple... It was quick to work, and the result is a thick fabric, with weight, and a really lovely look...
I am tempted to make a cowl, a scarf or a shawl.... and I will definetly have to buy a nice yarn for this!!!!!!
Plus! great thing::: MG loved my sample, was amused by it, and agreed with me on the need to make a beauty with nice yarn... so green light to buy!!!! I'm going to the yarn store today after my Zumba class!!!! yei!!!!!

Have a happy hooky time!!!
and see you soon!
S.

I Have to show you!!!!!

Helloooooooooo everyone!!!!

Today was my last class of my basic decorating class... 4 classes and a month went by already!
I felt really comfortable with what I was doing today... I made my cakes yesterday, and today after MG left for work I started preparing my icing and filling for my cake.

I made a french vanilla cake and added a cream cheese spread in the middle and covered it with strawberries.......... yum!

 Then I added the second layer of cake and the buttercream vanilla icing..

It wasn't very smooth so I put it in the fridge to settle for a while and in the mean time I did another batch of icing and colored it for my decorations.
I got my cake out and smoothed it... mmm it looked so much better!

And almost without crumbles!!!!! yei!

So I ran to my class, and when I was closing the door of my house, I was holding my supplies bag and the cake box and the keys and all, and the box slipped off my hand and the cake went down and "crashed" into a side of the box... I was so angry!

Nothing bad happened and the surface didn't got any damage, the only thing was that the cake ended up off centered from the board and I couldn't get it back to the center without making farther damage... so it stayed off centered...

Today we learned how to make roses and writing... And I added that to my cake...

Do you want to see it???

Here it is!!!!!!

I am SOOOOO happy with it!!!! I liked it a lot and I was really proud of myself!!!
It was my "graduation" cake and it really felt like that...

I wrote "Happy day" on it because I was taking it to MG's lab to share with his labmates, and it wasn't anyones birthday or celebration, so I thought I could just go for a happy day to anyone and everyone!
Here's the top view...

And one from the back where you can see better te vines and leaves I added on the sides...
Do you see how is off centered in the board???

Well, that's all for today!
I wanted to share because I'm really excited about it....
Off to some hooky time now!!!!

See you soon!
S.

Scrumptious Yarn - The Crochet Club

Well, I've tell you before about the Crochet Club...

Yesterday I got my parcels...

I'm glad I was home because you needed to sign for those!!
I opened the small one.....

 And then the big one.......

OOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I was so excited!!!! I've never received (or buyed) so many balls of yarn in a single shot before!!!!

34 nice, yummy, delicious, shiny balls of yarn!!!! and 4 bags of beads!!!

Here's what I received...

Rowan Cotton Glace :::
Garnet x 11
Nightshade x 7
Twilight x 4
Ivy x 3
Umber x 2
Bubbles x 2
Blood Orange x 1
Ochre x 1

AND Lenpur Linen :::
Lagoon x 2
Zest x 1

all in 50 g balls... they are so tiny!!!!
I'm a little afraid of it's thin-ness as I've been using worsted weight and thicker for the past 2 or 3 years due to my hand soreness... I will have to use a 2.5 and 3.0 mm hook! I really hope my hands will be able to do it!

Here they are all together!!!!!!!!!

And here, just one of each color, just the Rowan and the beads...

mmmmm Happyness....!

See you soon!
S.

Delicious Idea!!!

Unfortunally not mine... but here it is:::

A few days ago I found WhipperBerry Blog... That is a cooperative blog with a few amazing and creative women... and there was this incredible delicious idea that I want to try!!

Hot Chocolate on a stick!

This was posted by Heather and she made this Chocolate and Marshmallow combos sticked and decorated them properly as a gift... the idea is to put the stick on a mug and add hot milk to obtain Hot Chocolate!!!

I borrowed the image from the blog.  (I looked in case it wasn't permited, but I couldn't find anything that said I couldn't and I wanted to show you...)

Anyway, go to their blog to see this fantastic idea!!!

See you soon!
S.

PS... my Crochet Club packages arrived this afternoon, I'll wait for better light tomorrow to take some photos to show you! it is a very pretty yarn! I'm off to work on my tension!

Little Sister Dress

I FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished! I finished!!!!

WOW!!! I am so so so happy and excited!!! this little dress took me forever to get it done...
it was knitted, so no my usual crochet...
I started it back in May last year... I worked "hard" on it for a couple of months and then we had the moving and then I went to Mexico so it kind of got forgotten, better say hybernating... until last week.

Last week was my "finish knitted items" week... just because sometime they have to be done!

So first I finished a vest for me... I still don't have a good pic, so I'll show it later...

By mid week I finished this dress!!!! I still need to add the buttons!

Isn't it cute???? I LOVE IT!!!!

I used Tora Froseth Pattern, and followed the instructions for 3 months... The pattern asked for fingering weight yarn I think and 3 mm needles:: TOO small and thin for my hands, so I changed and used worsted weight (Cascade 220, I sure love that yarn) and 6mm needles....

So even when I followed the 3 month pattern, the increase in yarn and needles size made my dress suitable for a 4 year old!!!!
As I still don't have anyone to use it, I don't really mind that it is for a 4 year old.

I'm hoping to have a girl of my own one day that would wear it... and in the meantime I'll contemplate it and be happy!

See you soon!
S.

The Crochet Club

I haven't talk about this for a while....
I signed up for The Crochet Club around August... and it has been in hold until now.

The Crochet Club is held by Janie Crow, and it's a global thing... She received the sign ups during June and July, last year... then the payments... and now, starting 2011, she had sent yarn and beads parcels all over the world!!!! we will be doing a throw/blanket/wall hanging... I'm not sure, I think at the end I can use it for whatever I want... but the thing is that this is a mystery!!!
This is kind of inspired in the Mystery Blanket Knitting club held by Debbie Abrahams...

There are some really incredible and scrumptious pictures in her site, and I can't wait to start!!!

 Pictures borrowed from Janie's Crochet Club blog

Today I received the January patterns in my email!!! and Oh gosh!!! let me tell you.... they look Fan-Tas-Tic!!!!
I'm really, really excited!!! and now I just have to wait for my yarns and beads parcels to arrive!!! I hope they will sometime next week!!!
Of course I'll tell you all about it...

And now I have to go, but if you want to know more about this you can check Janie's website here!!
And I think you can register your interest to participate in 2012 Crochet Club... too early I think, but places fly and it will be full very quickly for sure!!

Have fun and a great weekend!!!

See you soon!
S.

My first decorated cake...

Just a quick share!!! I didn't go crazy with this one, but I think it was acceptable to be my first...

MG said it was perfect for a 2 year old girl party...

Any way, the taste was awsome!! banana cake with cajeta filling (cajeta is a Mexican confection of thickened syrup usually made of sweetened caramelised milk... and I LOVE it!) and buttercream icing!

It went from this...

To this...

And here, the practicing cupcakes I made last week!

 I have some crochet to show you, but I need to take good pictures of it!!

See you soon!
S.

WOW!!!! I've got an award!!!!

I can't even start to tell you the great and amazing surprise that I got today when I got a message from Mia from HandmadebyMia, who gave me and Wires & Yarns an award!!!!!!
It is absolutely amazing and I really thank her, for sharing it with me... and I also want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you that read my blog, leave sweet comments (or not) and accompany me in this life jorney!!!!

May I present you::: THE Award!!!!!

Nice! Isn't it????

It made me really, really happy, I jumped and danced with delight and I smile every time I think about it...
Made my day and week for sure!!!

As all awards, it comes with certain rules that I have to follow now...

     ** thank and link back to person who awarded you   done!
     ** share 7 things about yourself    done!
     ** pay it forward to 15 discovered bloggers    done!
     ** contact these bloggers and tell them about the award    almost done!


Here are my 7 things...

1. I am ejoying my life so much at the moment, even when I'm far away from Family and friends, and I spend most of my days alone while MG is at work... I am LoVinG this stage, where I can have me time, craft and enjoy anything I want.
2. I am big fan of musical plays at the theatre.
3. When I already know what MG will do or say next, and he does it, he has to "pay" me with a kiss.
4. I can't wait to have kids!!!
5. My mom is my best friend, and I enjoy her SO much!
6. I love romance/comedy books and movies, and I cry with them.
7. I can't drive.
8. (Plus thing) I HATE cold!!!

Now my list of blogs that are getting the award... some are new to me and some I have been visiting for some time now... Take a peek at them!

1. Casey at Plus3 Crochet 
2. Sarah at Carried Family
   
3. Amanda at Itchin Stitchin
4. Lucy at Attic24
5. Sara at Tangled Happy 
6. Lara at Thornberry 
7. Nicole at Nicole and the Bee
8. Erin at The Misadventures of an Ordinary Housewife
9. Saskia at Crafty Valley
   
10. Annie and Laura at Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows
    
11. Kristin at On the Creative Side
12. Julie at Twisted Strands
13. Ruth Marie at Corn Poppy Girl
14. Amanda at Manda's Challeges
15. Christy at Speed Scarps

** I don't know why the colors on my nominates are like that, I tried to put each one in a different color and just couldn't...

Anyway, saying goodbye for now! A very happy and proud me!

See you soon!
S.

ETA:: I know the links are not working... I'm working on that!
ETA:: Links are fixed now! thanks for bearing with me!

Wordle

Hello!!!!

I just read at Tecrin's blog about Wordle...
It's a quick, free, website that allows you to make a cloud of the words you used in a text or a blog...
I made one of my blog and this came out... I thing is fun!

Well, I'm off to do some homework::: I'll decorate cupcakes that I made yesterday to practice for my class!!!!

See you soon!
S.

Granny Shrug...

Sorry if you have seen my sharing of this in Ravelry already, but I can't no post it here.

Last summer I read in Kootoyoo blog about this shrug... I loved it and wanted to make it for the fall... and I didn't... but finally I got the yarn for Christmas and I did it!!!

Wool Ease yarn, by Lion Brand, thick and quick... very quick!!!
With a 15mm hook... very fun to make... it took 4 complete balls and a little bit of a 5th just for the joinings... I think I made 7 rounds... and I did a sc all around in sleves, neck and bottom... I sew the front because I liked it more semi-closed than opened... here it is!

A very happy me!

See you soon!
S.

African Flower Pillow...

Hello!!!!

Do you remember a looooong while ago, my first attempts over African Flowers???

 You can read about it here and here and here...

They were hybernating for a long time because I was blank about what to make with them... I lost inspiration, got started with several other projects, had the moving, my trip to Mexico, etc...
And I just couldn't figure out what to make with them... I had 24 made, all the posible color combinations with my 4 colors... and I couldn't get more of that yarn because we got it in a ond-day trip in a small town... so I couldn't do a lot more flowers to make a blanket or something like that...
I made a few tryings joining them together, I tried to make a rug and a vest... a run for the table... nothing!!!!

So, finally,  I took it out last week to force me to assemble something with it so I could take it to the LYS to exhibit...

Oh yeah!!! EXHIBIT!!!! of my crochet pieces!!!! at the LYS!!!!!! wooohoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, the owner asked me if I wanted to exhibit my crochet things at the store... and, I mean (seriously??) how can you say no to that!!!! They have a LOT of knitting displayed but not that much crochet and she said she wants to impulse the tecnique... so I sat last week and browse through all my things to decide what to take there... I went yesterday to the store, with all the things, so she could see them and choose what she wanted to display... and I WANTED this african flowers there, so they HAD to become in something pretty!!!

And here's what I made::::::::::::

It was night and the pic is a bit dark, but you can see it clearly.... the best part is that I had enough yarn left to make 4 more flowers and make a second pillow!!!!!!!! (still unfinished!)

I'm very, very happy with it... and I hope to finish the second one soon!!!!

The exhibit should be setted up by the weekend, I'll take pictures to share!!!

Oh yes! I AM HAPPYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy happy days!
See you soon!
S.

Contradiction...

Hellloooooooo!!!!!!!
How are you doing in this first Monday of the year???

I'm great... today I took my first class on cake decorating: The basics!
It's a Wilton course that I'll take for the next 3 weeks at our local Hobby Lobby... I'm very excited, I learned a lot of things today and I can tell you, I will learn a whole lot during the 3 remaining classes.
Today there was a lot of theory and showing, and just a bit of practice decorating in cookies... we just had to decorate with stars... here's what I did:::

Nothing fancy, nothing from other world... but something new for me... They told me I was good :o)!!!

The contradictory part is, that after that I rushed to the Zumba place, where I take Zumba classes (zumba is a dance type workout based on latin rythms) to a weigh-in and first day of a "lose weight" program that will be held there from here to March...

Soooo, I'm taking cake decorating classes AND trying to loose weight and be healthier.... *sigh*

I hope both will work out great... and I'm happy for now, so that's what's more important in this moment.

See you soon!
S.

1.1.11

Hello!!!!
First post of the year in this fun date!!! I like fun dates, like 10.10.10 or 05.06.07 and so on... but I just thougth that I like the today date more because is the same in day/month/year format than month/day/year format... and that is also fun.
Today my day was pretty perfect, so I think we started our year with the right foot.
We started (just after midnight) going out for a walk around our building, to gave thanks and simbolize the idea of a trip in this year for us... we took a bag with a book for relax time and fun, a bag of homemade cookies for home cozyness, a camara to capture all our precious moments this year, a Chemistry article so the work keeps rolling, a skein of yarn of course, and a wallet with money.
MG wore sandals (it was a bit cold) and he said it was to chalenge the world and up front whatever comes, I wore my exercise snikers to be more athletic and healthier this year... and as it was raining when we went out, we took an umbrella as a shelter over our heads sign.
As we had a bag of garbage that we had to take to the trash container, we took it out at that time and dump it as throwing away the bad things in our life...
We made a wish and drop some coins to the air, left them on the floor.
It's one of those tradition of ours, that I don't know if someone else's does them, but I'm glad we do.

After a good night rest, we had leftovers breakfast, talk with our families on the phone, and spend the day together... MG was drawing in a new sketch book that we bought for him yesterday with new pencils... I was crocheting for most part of the day... we watched TV while doing it... we saw some Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy's chapters, and we got to the end of the season in both of them... I live what it's happening on the TV and I ended up crying more than a couple of times, and each time, MG standed up, leaving his drawing and came to the couch or floor, and sat beside me and hugged me smiling and comforting me in my silyness cries...

It was a perfect day...

...and today I'll start the Project Joy 365 inspired by Christy at Speed Scraps. This is a project to take a picture each day of the year and put them all together in a scarp album, a page per week. I'm excited about it....

I hope that you had a really great start this 2011... I wish you all the happiness and health of the world, with a lot of love and peace.

See you soon!
S.